Bill Baer might be willing to be consulted about how he ran his contest, if there is someone interested in starting up a contest of their own. I hope that I was not interpreted as suggesting that Baer does not know something about formal verse. Since the new head of the West Chester conference does not seem to be expert in the subject, you never know what can happen. Wikipedia states that the Nemerov contest tended to receive over three thousand entries. A new contest would probably receive fewer, at least until it gained a reputation. I believe that Baer did the screening of entries himself, and that the judge looked at only the top dozen or so, but I could be wrong. If a judge doesn't have to look at many entries, his or her fee may not be extremely large. However, anyone who organizes a new contest can run it any way that he or she chooses.
Susan
|